Universal Extends Epic Universe Previews
Universal Orlando has extended paid previews of Epic Universe for on-site hotel guests, Annual Passholders and other select guests throughout the lead-up to the official opening of the new theme park. This covers pricing, dates & details along with our commentary about attending soft openings.
This is the second wave of Epic Universe previews, with the first starting last week and continuing through May 8, 2025. This extension runs right up to grand opening week, with tickets now available for Annual Passholders, on-site hotel guests, and others through May 19, 2025. As a reminder, Epic Universe will have its grand opening on May 22, 2025 and it’s likely that there’s a multi-day media event May 20-21, so this is probably it on previews.
Some dates of the Epic Universe previews have started to sell out for Annual Passholders, but they’re typically Fridays through Sundays–and less expensive dates. We wouldn’t worry too much about tickets selling out if you’re contemplating one of the mid-May preview dates. In addition to lower demand, leaked data suggests that Universal Orlando is raising the cap during later preview dates. More on that in a bit.
Here are remaining April 2025 ticket prices for the UOAP previews of Universal Epic Universe:
- April 25, 2025: $136
- April 26, 2025: $136
- April 27, 2025: $131
- April 28, 2025: $123
- April 29, 2025: $123
- April 30, 2025: $123
May 2025 Epic Universe preview ticket prices:
- May 1, 2025: $123
- May 2, 2025: $127
- May 3, 2025: $131
- May 4, 2025: $127
- May 5, 2025: $123
- May 6, 2025: $123
- May 7, 2025: $123
- May 8, 2025: $123
- May 9, 2025: $127
- May 10, 2025: $131
- May 11, 2025: $127
- May 12, 2025: $123
- May 13, 2025: $123
- May 14, 2025: $123
- May 15, 2025: $123
- May 16, 2025: $127
- May 17, 2025: $131
- May 18, 2025: $127
- May 19, 2025: $127
According to Universal Orlando: “During this Preview period, we’re putting the final touches in place and rehearsing, so some attractions and experiences may not be available.”
In addition to Annual and Seasonal Universal Orlando Passholders, active 2025 Military Freedom Pass Ticket Holders, Universal Rewards Signature VISA Card members, and guests staying at any Universal Orlando hotel can also purchase tickets to access Epic Universe during its preview period.
If preview dates don’t sell out, our expectation is that the “additional audiences” alluded to above will expand to include Florida residents next. If that still is insufficient, the general public may follow.
According to multiple unconfirmed reports, the booths at Universal Orlando already are selling Epic Universe preview tickets to anyone. If this is accurate (and we have no reason to doubt that it is), it’s only a matter of time before Universal makes an official announcement. This move would make sense, so we expect it to happen sometime in May 2025
Along with Epic Universe, Universal Helios Grand Hotel is open for reservations for now through May 19, 2025!
If you want experienced professionals to book Helios Grand Hotel for you or to help determine which Epic Universe packages will work best for your family, we recommend requesting a free quote from Be Our Guest Vacations, a no-fee Universal Preferred Travel Agency.
I’ll have a full review of Universal Helios Grand Hotel and its Club Level soon–hopefully within the next few weeks. For now, consider checking out We’re Live from Universal Helios Grand Hotel, Epic Universe’s In-Park Resort (Photos & Video).
If you have a healthy budget or want to splurge, I’d recommend a Park View Room at Helios Grand and staying Club Level (prioritize view if it’s one or the other). Note that the lounge has a city view, so both Club Level and the Park View Room are ideal. It’s pricey, to be sure, but I found that rates during the previews are less expensive than later this year. But Universal Orlando uses dynamic hotel pricing, so YMMV.
If staying at Helios Grand Hotel, period, would be a splurge, I don’t recommend doing it. Instead of doing the cheapest standard room, save that money and just stay at Stella Nova or Terra Luna Resort. As much as I enjoyed my stay at Helios Grand and am thankful I had that opportunity, it’s pricey and a mixed bag in several ways.
To each their own, but I think the hotel only “works” when you go all out. If you can’t do that, I’d simply opt for Stella Nova or Terra Luna Resort instead. We will definitely be doing exactly that on some future stays!
As for the park, I’ve attended multiple paid previews thus far, and had mostly positive experiences. Attendance has very clearly been capped well below Epic Universe’s estimated full capacity of around 40,000. Based on leaked data that paints an incomplete picture, we’d estimate that Universal Orlando is currently releasing 15,000 tickets available for sale each day.
Note that this is how many tickets are available and not how many are selling. The data that’s out there is for Annual Passholder tickets, but that’s only one “bucket” of tickets. In talking to Team Members at the Universal Orlando Vacation Planning Center desk, tickets were reallocated from the AP bucket to the hotel guest bucket shortly before sales started and, at this point, there should be more than enough inventory to ensure every hotel guest can purchase an Epic Universe preview ticket. (They were careful to not call it a guarantee, and I know there were some issues before the previews actually started.)
Aside from weekends, Annual Passholder preview tickets have not been selling out, nor have hotel guest tickets. This means that the 15,000 ticket cap (or thereabouts) is irrelevant, because they’re actually selling under 10,000 tickets. On some weekdays, that number is probably much lower than 10,000–so we’re talking less than one-quarter of the park’s total capacity.
This is why the increased 7,000 ticket cap available for Annual Passholders is pretty much irrelevant. We would hazard a guess that most Annual Passholders already purchased their tickets during the first wave of sales. Aside from the diehards who just can’t get enough (and have plenty of disposable income), this next wave is going to sell worse, not better. I’d be shocked if any weekdays sell out–and unsurprised if weekends don’t.
Hotel guests are a different story, as they’re primarily tourists who are constantly refreshed. Someone doing a trip in mid-May didn’t have the (realistic) option of buying Epic Universe preview tickets in April. If anything, their uptake could be higher as awareness and positive word-of-mouth about low crowds spreads.
Still, locals are likely the primary audience for Epic Universe previews, so all of this is a recipe for low crowds. You’re probably not going to have another chance to experience Epic Universe at one-quarter of total capacity. (And if what I experienced is any indication, you’re definitely not going to want to be there when attendance is 25,000 or higher!)
Ultimately, we highly recommend attending a paid preview of Epic Universe (or two) if at all possible. There’s a lot more we could say about the pros & cons of attending Epic Universe previews, but I’m guessing there’s not much of an audience for it. These previews last another ~6 weeks before the park opens, and I’d imagine that not many planners are reading this in the first place.
Those who are reading have probably already made their decision whether to attend Epic Universe previews or not. Perhaps I’m underestimating interest (in which case, let me know!), but we have a lot of Epic Universe coverage to come, and focusing on previews seems low-priority.
Need trip planning tips and comprehensive advice for your visit to Central Florida? Make sure to read our Universal Orlando Planning Guide for everything about Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida. Also check out our Walt Disney World Vacation Planning Guide for everything about those parks, resorts, restaurants, and so much more.
YOUR THOUGHTS
Will you be attending Epic Universe previews? Excited for Super Nintendo World, Harry Potter’s Ministry of Magic, Dark Universe/Classic Monsters, or the How to Train Your Dragon lands and/or attractions? Think Epic Universe will be a third gate that’s a worthy addition to Universal Orlando Resort…and potentially on par with Disney’s best lands? Any questions? We love hearing from readers, so please share any other thoughts or questions you have in the comments below!
We went to Epic Sunday the 20th. If the attendance was in the 15,000 range, I would not like to go when the park has 40,000. The lands are not very big and we were shoulder to shoulder with people.
Unlike most folks here, this info is a potential needle-mover for planning for me. For someone with the means and flexibility who definitely wants to go to Epic sometime in the next year, is going in May the move to take advantage of lower crowds? Or is the likelihood/amount of ride downtime worth setting it aside for now and trying for savvy strategy in going at a comparative downtime after the park is in full flight?
I get the low capacity. TMs are still using their free tickets and it seems like most of the rides are still having issues on the daily. Opening it up to more people until the park can handle it would be a disaster, especially with social media. (I can see all of the bad press now.) UO needs to wait and allow the APs, who are more forgiving, to have their time. They, the loyal ones, have been waiting a long time for this opportunity.
I will preface with WE LOVE UNIVERSAL ORLANDO. We visit a couple of times a year (and are a 2.5 hour flight away), and always look forward to coming back.
We went to Epic Universe a few days ago. It is certainly beautiful to look at, but not fully operational. Almost all of the rides went down at one point or another. I can’t see how they will be ready to go in a month, and I don’t believe the price tag for the preview tickets (which is the same as admission) is reasonable. They also pushed $200 express passes hard at the Hard Rock hotel and on the phone with guest services. Anyway, we got their super-early (90 minutes before early opening) and were first in one of the security lines. After witing for almost an hour at the gate, the security people told us that entry way was not going to be functional today. As a result 200+ people who had already been waiting had to merge with other lines at that point. Even so, still were one of the first people to get to the mine-cart ride. The first group got on, and then had to get off. The ride didn’t function for almost another 2 hours. We did go back and ride later. The ride was fun, but not “amazing”. The virtual line situation for the Harry Potter ride is such a distraction – everyone in the park is staring at their phones at 11 am in order to get a reservation – family members snapping at one another and getting upset over not getting reservations. We were able to get one for 3 pm, but the ride borke down while we were in line. We waited a little over an hour in a TINY room (if you’ve been, the one that looks like a locker room) with no updates and then decided to call it quits. It was a little uncomfortable because we had to step over people laying on the ground in order to exit the line. We did ask and you could come back later, BUT that was ONLY if you had a screen shot of your QR code for the line – and there was no way of telling in the app if the ride was open or not. Stardust racers did not open until after 7 pm and the wait was 2 hours (probably due to having closed all day). Went to lunch around 11:30 am at the Meteor Astropub and was server a cold hamberger. There is shade in the dark universe section, but almost none in the how to train your dragon land. It was so hot there because of the faux-wood flooring that radiated heat upwards, I imaging it will be a grueling day for parents with younger children.
My kids said they would both rather ride Fast and Furious at Universal Studios Orlando five times than go back. Not exactly a ringing endorsement…
I’ve been hearing a lot of stories like this from friends, TMs, and influencers that have had the same experience as yours. Universal needs all the time they can afford to perfect the park before they open it up to more people.
From the pics and videos other friends have taken while at Epic the place is amazing. The attention to detail and decor is stunning. Bean counter Iger was wrong again, Universal isn’t playing catch up, they just put Disney on notice and blew them out of the water. I wasn’t interested in Epic for our family before, but WOW, that place is amazing.
Take this with a grain of salt since I don’t know anyone who has confirmed this firsthand, but there are reports on Reddit that any of the sales windows at Universal, including City Walk, are now selling preview tickets. So it might be the case that they have quietly opened these previews to anyone now, especially since they’re not selling out anyway, they’re just not widely announcing it.
Thanks for sharing–this would not surprise me in the least.
Even the process at the hotels before the previews started struck me as very laid back (it was based on current stay as opposed to dates during the preview), and when I asked if I could purchase more tickets than I had room keys, the TM advised that it might be possible at the ticket booths. Not wanting to make that commute from Terra Luna just to confirm, I didn’t bother.
It’ll be interesting to see whether they officially open sales to Florida residents in the coming days. Seems like a missed opportunity not to.
I was hoping they would do this. We were able to get tickets for the second day of previews but they had operational issues with the Frankenstein ride and it was the only ride we didn’t get to ride. We were also tired because of the late night flight the night before. I am on a 3 day cruise out of Port Canaveral Florida so I swapped my AP discounted ticket from June 6 to May 12 and got a refund of $60. Original plan was Volcano Bay until out late flight out but I decided I didn’t really need two epic days at the beginning of June.
Are you able to purchase more than one day for the previews?
Yes. They don’t seem to care how many tickets. I don’t think they are selling too well.
How do signature cardholders buy preview tickets?
I received an email with a link and access code.
As usual you are spot on. Our weekday at Epic was much more manageable than Saturday was. We didn’t get lucky with Harry Potter but got to experience everything else that we missed on Saturday except for Mine Cart and it was pretty relaxed. But yeah, I think full capacity is going to be challenging for a while.
We grabbed a room for one night at Stella Nova to use as a day room and would absolutely come back. At least for now, it’s very chill. We hope it stays that way but accept that it will likely get busier once Epic is officially open to everyone. (We won’t be returning to Cabana Bay. Yes the amenities there are fun but it’s too busy for us. and unfortunately, the pool slide was taken out of service while we were there anyway).
Thanks for putting in that bit of additional info regarding Helios in advance of your in-depth review, Tom (why does this system always try to autocorrect me to “Tim”?! Skynet is definitely *not* self aware. Yet.) The prospect of a FL theme park in July weather is daunting, to say the least. Splurging on our room and board would definitely help offset the meteorological torture!
I’m a Brit and was always going to Orlando from May 10th onward and a few months ago had resigned myself to not seeing Epic until 2026. I’m staying on site at Disney during this trip, but have specifically booked a 1 night stay at Stella Nova now the opportunity to go to Epic has presented itself. I know a few others who have done the same although I’m sure we are outsiders and not going to move the needle too much in terms of overall attendance.
Personally, I hope they open it up for all Florida residents. I live nearby but I don’t have a Universal AP. I would love to do the preview if I could.
I’m honestly surprised that hasn’t happened already. Maybe they’ll give this second wave a few days to see how sales are look, and then open it up to all Florida residents.
This *should* be a stress test of the park for actual operations. Instead, it’s become like a special event ticket with low attendance. Odd approach, but I’ll (selfishly) take it!